Preview: Sunderland (H)

The Iron take on Sunderland in their only home friendly of the 2017-18 pre-season on Wednesday night (7.30pm kick-off).

Manager Graham Alexander is looking forward to the test the Championship outfit, who were in the top flight last season, will pose as his side step up their preparations ahead of the new campaign.

There are just 10 days to go until our League One season opener against AFC Wimbledon at Glanford Park, and the games against the Black Cats and away to Luton Town on Saturday represent key parts of the season warm-up.

Alexander confirmed in a pre-match interview that he'll be looking to increase the minutes the players receive during these games, following a successful pre-season training camp in Austria last week.

Missing out will be Luke Williams, who is still recovering from the hamstring injury picked up while on loan with Northampton last year. Meanwhile, Lewis Butroid looks set to miss out after picking up a knock.

Elsewhere, Sam Mantom will be absent after suffering a swollen foot last week. He went for a scan on Monday and the boss is hopeful he will return to training next week.

Refereeing the game will be Darren Drysdale, who will be assisted by Chris Akers and Rob Atkin. The fourth official is David Jones.